BHS students trick-or-treat for charitable causes

Students in four different organizations from Baldwin High School went door-to-door Monday night, but what they were collecting was different than the usual Halloween fare of candy and treats.

The students used the holiday as a way to give back to the community by collecting items such as eyeglasses, shoes, coats and canned goods.

National Honor Society, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Letterman’s Club and Family, Career and Community Leaders of America each has students involved in more than one of the groups. So they decided the students and community would be best served by banning together in one joint project.

“Each group individually decided they wanted to do (community service),” National Honor Society adviser Katherine Cook said. “We decided we should put it all together so that our kids could collect for all the activities in one effort and the community only gets students knocking on their doors one time.”

The Lions Club had asked the honor society if the group would help collect eyeglasses in support of OneSight.org, an organization whose mission is to help every person have clear vision even if he or she cannot afford it.

The other groups each chose a specific cause to collect. FCCLA collected shoes for a program called Soles4Souls, which is a national organization that collects shoes and distributes them to those who are in need of them. FCA and Letterman’s Club chose to make an impact on the Baldwin City community by collecting coats and canned goods to be distributed locally.

“This is the first time that we’ve really joined forces with a plan,” Cook said. “We had no idea how we might be successful or what we might do.”

The groups sent out flyers and had an event on Facebook to try to let the community know they would be coming by for donations.

A total of about 30 students took part in the community service activity. They split into groups of three or four students and then divided up the community. Each group chose a different part of the community to collect from to be sure they went to as many homes as possible.

Although the groups are done going to different neighborhoods and collecting, they are still accepting items to give to the charities.

“We’d still be happy to take any kinds of donations at the high school,” Cook said.